SA adopts report recommending expropriating land without compensation

The Joint Constitutional Review Committee on Thursday adopted a resolution that Section 25 of the Constitution be amended to allow expropriation without compensation.

Following a lengthy process of public consultation and deliberation, the EFF's Floyd Shivambu sponsored a motion on Thursday recommending that the Constitution be amended, mirroring the recommendation the ANC previously proposed to the committee.

The DA's Annelie Lotriet offered a different motion, recommending that the Constitution not be amended because the Constitution already makes provision for land reform. The committee dismissed her motion, with 12 votes against four, and adopted the EFF's proposal by the same margin.

Court action to prevent Parliament from amending the Constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation seems imminent as parties opposing an amendment to section 25 all sang from the same hymn sheet.

As part of the EFF's recommendation, it states that Parliament must appoint a mechanism to draft the amendment and that this must be done before the Fifth Parliament rises before the 2019 general elections. The process will now go through a number of phases. This report will be tabled in the National Assembly this term and if it is adopted by the House, another committee will be tasked with drafting the amendments.

This process will entail another public participation process and will have to be passed with a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.